Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series on North Okaloosa County Teachers of the Year.

CRESTVIEW — A sign on Anita Dunn's classroom door lets visitors know the students inside are pretty special — and really loved.

"Dunn's Doves" are five kindergarten through second-grade-aged students at Richbourg Exceptional Student Education School.

"But that's chronological age," Dunn said, explaining each student functions at his or her own level.

"They're all so different," Dunn said. "Some are verbal, some non-verbal, some autistic, some Down syndrome, and one who reads at grade level."

Teaching students of diverse abilities takes getting to know each student and shaping an appropriate course of study for him or her, Dunn said.

"It's a progressive monitoring, just like any other student, but on their level," she said.

Some of her students respond to tactile stimuli; others learn through visual aids or physical interaction, she said.

"It's all ways of learning," Dunn said. "They absorb information in so many different ways."

Dunn, a special education instructor of 35 years, has taught at every school level in both district-wide and state-level schools. Fellow teachers at Richbourg selected her as the school's Teacher of the Year.